전염의 시대: 『로미오와 줄리엣』에 내재하는 전염병 문화

Abstract

This essay examines Romeo and Juliet as an early modern theatrical product fully loaded with the cultures constructed through the experiences of plague. The sporadic but continual outbreaks of contagious diseases over the sixteenth to mid-seventeenth century engendered frequent appearance of rhetorical expressions or metaphors of contagion, but not direct or realistic depictions of the actual plaguy bodies on the early modern English stage. Although latent or implicit, early modern plays connote the contemporary understanding of contagion, suggest institutional policies to handle the plagues, and project the public psychology of fear and anxiety confronting the seemingly incurable and transmittable diseases. Romeo and Juliet, thus, embodies social mechanism and traumatic responses of the contemporaries, shaped through the repeated overwhelming experiences of disastrous plagues. Whereas the humorous characters including Romeo demonstrate the bodies susceptible to plague, their physical contacts, either boosted by hatred or love, soon conjure suspicions and anxieties for rampant plaguy disease, instantly spreadable through versatile social networks in the city of Verona. In addition, Romeo’s hasty exile and the Friars’ abrupt confinement mirror the strategies and frustrations of the political management by public health authorities in times of plague. The Prince’s concluding statement invoking God invites traditional wrap-up manifesting divine order, but the dreary ending of the play still resonates with doubts and uneasiness chronically weaved through the cultures of plague.